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Classification of cocompact discontinuous groups for G/H

Classify all pairs (G,H) of Lie groups for which the homogeneous space G/H admits cocompact discontinuous groups, namely discrete subgroups Gamma \subset G that act properly discontinuously and freely on G/H with compact quotient.

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Background

The existence of cocompact discontinuous groups (compact CliffordKlein forms) for non-Riemannian homogeneous spaces is a long-standing problem intersecting geometry, topology, and representation theory.

Despite major progress (e.g., standard quotients and numerous obstructions), the full classification remains elusive even in seemingly simple cases such as rank-one symmetric spaces.

References

Determine all pairs $(G,H)$ for which $G/H$ admits {cocompact} discontinuous groups. Problem~\ref{prob:G1} is a long-standing open problem, and it remains unsolved even when $G/H$ is a symmetric space of rank one, as exemplified by the space form conjecture (Conjecture \ref{conj:G4}).

Proper Actions and Representation Theory (2506.15616 - Kobayashi, 18 Jun 2025) in Problem \ref{prob:G1}, Section 4.1